Engineering firm sees light with university's help
Sep 25 2007 by Chris Knox, The Journal
AN engineering company is looking to create jobs after winning an award for a lighting system it has invented.
Newcastle-based Kablefree Systems was awarded the SME and University Collaboration Award at the national Technology and Innovation Awards in London, after working with Northumbria University to develop a radio-based emergency lighting system.
The system has already been installed in several hospitals in the region and the company now says it will create a number of jobs making and selling it.
Thomas Lovell, director at Kablefree Systems, said: “This is one of the biggest developments this business has seen and, although I can’t give a number, we are looking to create a number of new jobs to push the product forward.”
The invention uses radio waves to test whether lighting systems are working correctly and provides emergency power via a secondary source if required. Its development is part of a major growth strategy for five-year-old Kablefree, which until now has concentrated entirely on making fire alarm systems. The firm is also developing a version of the emergency lighting system which does not require a secondary power source, but works via a battery.
It believes this will attract more business from listed buildings in the region as they prefer to avoid major alterations to their structures by installing a secondary power source.
Kablefree currently employs nine staff and was set up in Westerhope in 2002 by Thomas Lovell and managing director Michael Garbutt, before relocating to the John Buddle Work Village when it was opened in 2004.
Mr Lovell added: “This has been a very successful collaboration and one which illustrates perfectly how North-East companies can benefit from working with our universities. The new lighting system we have developed in conjunction with Northumbria University is the first of its kind and is attracting great interest from companies all over the world.”
The firm had to fend off stiff competition for the award, including entries from the University of Glasgow, the Royal Veterinary College and a Cheshire-based virtual reality company Virtalis, which entered a ‘virtual cow’ to help train vets.
John Wilkinson, manager of Sunderland-based Knowledge House, which helps companies get their product ideas off the ground by enlisting the help of North-East undergraduates, said: “Kablefree is a great example of what can be achieved but is only one of more than 1,200 collaborative projects that have taken place in the region over the past 10 years.”
